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Recording Trips

Mapping your Journey through Nature

brandon · Mar 23rd, 2017

On your next outdoor adventure try recording your path and notes along the way with the Natural Atlas app. We aren’t believers that people should be constantly fidgeting with their phones when outside, which is why we designed trip recording to be as simple as possible. Virtually everyone takes photos outside to cherish later and recording your trip is just as easy. Pictures only tell part of the story – outdoor adventures are best shared on a map.

Starting Recording

To start recording a trip simply tap the Start Trip button on the main screen of the app. This will bring up the activity selector where you pick the activity you are starting. Once you pick an activity you can press Start and the app will use its GPS to start recording your journey. Setting a title and description is optional and can always be done later.

Taking Notes / Photos

When you encounter something worth noting on your trip (animal sightings, scenic views, fish you catch, cool rocks or minerals, etc) press the + Note button to create a marker or take photos. See more about creating notes.

Changing Activities

To fully tell the story of some trips, its important to be able to mark when you change activities in the middle of the trip. One example is if you are alternating between boating and hiking. To do this tap the currently active activity from the main screen and select the new activity you are starting. This causes the color of the line segment to change.

Website Sync

Trips are automatically synced to your public profile on naturalatlas.com and can be shared with friends and family. If you would rather not share your trip with the world, you can mark it as private if you are a pro member.

Uploading a GPX File

If you have already recorded a trip with another GPS you can easily import it by clicking the Import GPX button from your trips page on the website. This will automatically generate a Natural Atlas trip and notes from the track and markers. After it has imported, you can optionally classify and attach photos to each note (marker).